Root The Galaxy S3 : Download stock.vzw_root66.tar

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Root the Galaxy S3 by Samsung

Last night I decided to man up and root my Galaxy S3. I had wanted to root my HTC Rezound when I had that device, but for some reason I had to tether it to my PC; needless to say I did not want to purchase the tethering option from Verizon, so it never happened.

This was the first time I rooted any android device and it was much easier than I had expected. I knew I would be able to complete the root with minor difficulties and now I will share the process with you.

ATTENTION: DO NOT USE THIS ROOT IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER DEVICE. THIS WILL ONLY WORK FOR THE U.S. AND CANADIAN VERSION OF THE GALAXY S3 (SCH-I535).

To find out if the you have the correct S3 model turn on you phone, touch the menu button -> Settings -> About Device; it will be under “Model number”.

Now that you are positive that you have the correct device for this root let’s get started!

How to Root the Galaxy S3 (Verizon Wireless):

Step 1. Turn off your Verizon Galaxy S3. Then hold down the Volume Down, Center Home, and Power buttons together for about 5 seconds. (You will feel a vibration, after the vibration is over let go of the buttons. It took me about a half hour to figure out that I was letting go of the button combination to soon.)

Step 2. When you see the warning screen, hit the Volume Up button to continue.

Step 3. When you see “Downloading” mode, connect a micro-USB cable from your Verizon Galaxy S3 to your computer. (Do not use a USB Hub, connect the device directly to your computer).

Step 5. Run the ODIN program by double-clicking on odin3v1.85.exe. (You should see a yellow-highlighted box with a random number. If you don’t, download and install Samsung Kies then unplug and replug your Galaxy S3.)

Step 6. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE in ODIN but the PDA button and choose the file stock.vzw_root66.tar then hit “Start”. (This file will be where you extracted the Stock ROM you downloaded earlier). This will basically install a stock rooted ROM on your Verizon Galaxy S3. It should take about 10 minutes. Once done, you will see “PASS!” green box and your phone will reset.

Step 7. Once rebooted, you will be rooted with Superuser app in your app menu!

Step 8. If you want to install custom ROMs, you can download and install ROM Manager from the Play Store.

(The following steps are for the ROM Manager app.)

Step 9. Next choose “Flash ClockworkMod Recovery”.

Step 10. Choose “Samsung Galaxy S3 (Verizon)”.

Step 11. Any time you want to get into ClockworkMod Recovery, choose “Reboot into Recovery” in ROM Manager.

After We Root:

Since we are running the Verizon version of the Galaxy S3 we need to unlock the bootloader. This is super easy; all you have to do is download the VZW GS3 EZ-Unlock app. This used to be in the play store but now you will have to go to that link and download the latest version.

Turns out unlocking the bootloader is done after you root the device. Make sure you are following all the steps correctly; if you would like here is the official XDA root thread. Please let me know if you see something that was missed in this post.